vIndianz.com (22 Jan, 2010) — New Delhi: The Indian government has put all Air-India/Indian Airlines flights operating in SAARC region (Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan apart from India) on high security alert after specific intelligence was received on Wednesday that Islamic fundamentalist groups aligned to the Al-Qaeda or the Lashkar-e-Toiba plan to hijack one such flight.
According to intelligence sources, the target is possibly an Air India/Indian Airlines aircraft operating to and from “any one of the SAARC countries” and that it can happen anytime “in the near future”.
Given the high credibility of the intelligence, the Home Ministry held an urgent meeting on Wednesday itself and issued a set of directions aimed at upgrading security, which included deployment of sky marshals on all flights of the carrier operating in the region, ‘The Indian Express’ reported.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued an advisory to all airlines to conduct a mandatory “100 per cent secondary ladder point check” until January 31 on all aircraft flying between these eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Besides this, other measures activated are: strengthening anti-hijacking measures and coordination with agencies concerned with the task and sensitizing security agencies of all countries where Air India/Indian Airlines aircraft operate.
Following an incident-free year in 2009 on the terror front, sources said, there has been pressure within anti-India terrorist groups to carry out a “sensational strike” soon. In this context, the hijack of an Indian commercial aircraft from foreign soil has been rated as a strong possibility. For, many of these terror groups do have associates in most neighbouring countries, said sources.
While flights to Afghanistan and Nepal get high security, other sectors like Colombo, Dhaka and even Yangon have now come into focus. Operations to Pakistan had been suspended earlier due to low traffic while Dhaka is connected by Air India Express.
Sources said private airlines operating in these sectors too would be sensitized.
Further Reading- 3 Sikhs beheaded by Pak Taliban
- Musharraf blames RAW for unrest in Balochistan – NDTV.com
- BARC on hit-list of Pak-based terror groups – Times of India
- Pakistan is victim and sanctuary of terror: Pillai – India Today
- ISI is a "rogue agency": AQ Khan – Economic Times
- Three Pak aircraft violate Indian air space: Official sources – Times of India
- 3 Pak aircraft violate Indian airspace – Times of India
- Terrorists entered India via Nepal – Hindustan Times
- India may get further access to Headley – Hindustan Times
- Security beefed up in Karnataka after terror alert – NDTV.com
Stay updated! Follow us on twitter and subscribe to our feed via Feedburner.
No Comments